Closure
by Gerri
Summary: This is a sequel or a prequel depending on how you look at it to Missing. It also stands quite well on its own.


_DISCLAIMER: As usual, KAA owns Animorphs; I own nothing but this fic and my twisted imagination. ::grin::  
  
Author's note: Well, here it is, the sequel to "Missing". This fic goes into further depth as to how Jake died, as someone suggested (Thanks for the idea, fanatic03!). And just as someone else requested, I've left Hanson out of it. ::grin:: Before you read this story, read "Missing" first, or you won't understand what on earth is going on.  
  
This one's for Desiree, Cherie, Aileen and everyone who reviewed "Missing"._  
  
  


Closure

  
  
Hey there, I'm Marco.  
  
I suppose you already know who I am, and that I kill Yeerks for a hobby, so I'll skip the explanations.  
  
Actually, right now, I'm really beat after a dead tiring day.  
  
First up, school.  
  
After school, drop in at the Yeerk Pool to crash the pool party.  
  
I fully intended to flop into bed when I got home and not get up the next morning, but apparently, my dad was home from work early and trying to learn to play one of my Playstation games.  
  
I decided to join him.  
  
I hadn't really played with my games in quite some time.  
  
After all, why play with video games when your life _is_ a video game?  
  
But that's not the only reason.  
  
Three months ago, my best friend, Jake, died in a Yeerk battle.  
  
Playing video games brings back memories of the times when I constantly kicked his butt.  
  
But after Jake died, we still had to go on fighting. And it seems that leadership is a thing that runs in Jake's family. Tom's the new leader now.   
  
And life goes on.  
  
Rachel's back to her same old gung-ho warrior style, Cassie's starting to open up now, after she totally shut down three months ago, and Tobias, well, he's the same as always. A solemn personality.  
  
As for me, I believe that Jake wouldn't want us to go on brooding forever.  
  
Time doesn't heal all wounds, but it's helped this one hurt a little less.  
  
I know that things are definitely harder for Tom though.  
  
I'd just beat my dad for the fourth time when the doorbell rang.  
  
"I'll get it," I said.  
  
I opened the door to find Jake's father standing there.  
  
"Uh, hi," I said.  
  
"Hello, Marco," he said in a tired voice. He looked so old suddenly.  
  
"Are you free this Sunday?" he continued.  
  
"Well, yeah. What's up?"  
  
"My wife and I...we've decided that it's time for closure. We're...going to have...a funeral service...for Jake."  
  
It was happening again.  
  
Another funeral without a body.  
  
Just like my mom's.  
  
When my mom went missing, I kept telling my dad not to give up hope; I told him that I was sure that Mom was still alive and out there somewhere, waiting for us to find her.  
  
But I couldn't say that now, because now, _I_ was the one who knew that Jake was really dead.  
  
My mind flashed back to that fateful night.  
  
Erek had told us that Visser Three was coming down and we all agreed that it would be a chance to sort of, assassinate him, since he doesn't come down to good ol' Earth very often.  
  
Somewhere in the middle of the fight, I threw a Hork-Bajir towards the human host cages.  
  
What I really didn't expect was that one of his wrist blades would catch on one of the cage door padlocks and slice it apart.  
  
Naturally, the humans knew freedom when they saw it   
  
_{Jake, the hosts are out!} I yelled.  
  
He took out down a Hork-Bajir, and if it's possible for tigers to shrug, I think he shrugged.  
  
{Why not? Let them out!}  
  
{Yeah, join the party,} Rachel added, then laughed wildly._   
  
So, I smashed open the rest of the human hosts' cages, and a few brave ones, including Tom, ran over and grabbed the fallen Hork-Bajirs' Dracon beams, and tried to help us.  
  
We made a new discovery too.  
  
You know that weird, slushy, lead-like liquid in the Yeerk Pool?  
  
When one of the human hosts fired at the Yeerk Pool, we found out, that apparently, the liquid was flammable.  
  
_{All right, things are really heating up now!} Rachel yelled.  
  
{Okay, who ordered charbroiled Yeerk?} Tobias joked._  
  
At his point, everything seemed to be going our way. Even _better_ than we planned, actually.  
  
We were taking down a few Hork-Bajir and Taxxons at the same time, while some freed human hosts stood in a circle, back to back, shooting at any Yeerk that dared to come close. The not-so-brave free humans were keeping the Yeerks busy too, running all over the place, trying to get out.  
  
And best of all, the Yeerk Pool was ablaze, frying a few thousand Yeerks into oblivion.  
  
Visser Three was hopping mad, shouting out orders left and right, and hurling threats at us at the same time.  
  
_{Prince Jake, we only have nine of your minutes left in morph,} Ax informed us.  
  
{Geez, time really flies when you're having fun,} Jake muttered. {All right, everyone out the way we came in. Take the human hosts along with us.}  
  
{Right. Okay, everyone, sorry to spoil your fun, but it's time to blow his joint,} I called to the free humans, who were still shooting Hork-Bajir.  
  
Some of the Yeerks had managed to recapture quite a number of the freed humans, so we quickly herded the few free ones we still had towards the exit.  
  
This entrance we'd found was in an abandoned building. The way in was a doorway opening out into a back alley.  
  
On the way out, Cassie explained to the twenty or so free humans that they could not mention the Yeerks to anyone, or else risk recapture.  
  
All this way, we could still hear Hork-Bajir feet pounding after us in the darkness.  
  
Pushing the free humans ahead of us, out into the dimly-lit alley, we told them to run. Then we hid in the shadows and demorphed.  
  
Jake started first, followed by Cassie, then the rest of us.  
  
Just as we became fully human, three Hork-Bajir leapt out the doorway and sprinted after the free humans.  
  
"No!" Jake yelled, and started after them.  
  
"Jake, no!" Cassie grabbed hold of his arm.  
  
"Tom's there!" he shouted back and yanked his arm free of her grip.  
  
The rest of us gave chase.  
Ahead, we saw Tom look back and see the Hork-Bajir.  
  
"Run!"he yelled, urging the rest of the free humans on, even pushing them ahead.  
  
Jake was catching up.  
  
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rachel go grizzly again. Cassie followed as a wolf.  
  
I morphed to wolf myself. It would be easier to keep up, anyway.  
  
The Hork-Bajir were still chasing after the free humans, but the humans had a good lead.  
  
Tom was right behind the whole bunch now, still yelling at the rest of them to run.  
  
Jake was getting closer and closer, but he was still in human form. He was far too worried about Tom.  
  
After that moment, time seemed to slow down, even as everything took place in a matter of seconds.  
  
The lead Hork-Bajir made a leap that would've broken he world's high jump record.  
  
"Tom!" Jake yelled as he burst forward.  
  
Tom spun around just as Jake leapt onto him...  
  
...And as the Hork-Bajir landed, he sank his wrist blade into Jake's back.  
  
Then time sped up again.  
  
Rachel gave a roar of outrage and charged forward, mauling the lead Hork-Bajir to shreds.  
  
Cassie's howl was one of pure anguish as she leapt onto the nearest Hork-Bajir and ripped out his neck with true animal savagery.  
  
Me, I went flat out nuts.  
  
I jumped on the last Hork-Bajir and ripped him to pieces, Hork-Bajir blood and flesh flying everywhere.  
  
I don't know how long I was at it, but I only stopped when Ax's calm voice cut through the seething fury in my mind.  
  
{Marco.}  
  
I looked up, and saw that the other free humans had gotten far away, leaving only us and Tom at the mouth of the alley.  
  
Tom was hugging Jake and crying, his hands glistening black with his younger brother's blood in the dim light.  
  
The rest of us came closer.  
  
Seeing out movement, Tom clutched Jake even tighter.  
  
"NO!! Stay away! Don't touch my brother!!"  
  
{We won't hurt you, Tom,} Rachel said quietly.  
  
"Wha-? Rachel is that you?"  
  
Jake turned.  
  
"Tom...I've been wanting to tell you something for a long time..." he whispered.  
  
"Yeah? What is it?" Tom asked gently.  
  
"We...We're the 'Andalite bandits'."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Guys...demorph."  
  
We were unsure of this, but I went first, and the others followed.  
  
Tom stared.  
  
"You guys...How?"  
  
"Rachel will tell you...I'm too tired right now..." Jake mumbled.  
  
"Jake...no..." Cassie fell to her knees beside them.  
  
"I'm really glad you're free, Tom...but I'm really tired...I just need to sleep..."   
  
"No, Jake, don't do this to us! __Morph!!_" I yelled.  
  
Tom hugged Jake again, and although Jake was too weak to return the hug, he put his arms around Tom's neck.  
  
"I love you, Tom," I heard him whisper.  
  
Then his arms slipped from around Tom's neck.  
  
"NO!! Jake..." Cassie cried.  
  
Rachel slumped down against the alley wall, and her shoulders shook with sobs as she covered her face with her hands.  
  
Tobias morphed to human and went over to hug her.  
  
Then Ax's thought-speak voice sounded in our heads, calmness interlaced with sadness, admiration and pain.  
  
{I, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil, give the soul of my fallen Prince into the hands of the higher powers above; a warrior who earned the respect and love of those who fought alongside him. He died a warrior's death, fighting to the very end. I hereby honour his memory.}  
  
Ax then sank to all four of his knees, letting his tail fall to the ground and his stalk eyes drooped.  
  
"Nice ritual, Ax," I said softly when he was on his feet again.  
  
{Thank you, Marco.}  
  
Things went quickly from there.  
  
Rachel insisted that we needed a way to preserve the body so Ax rigged up a forcefield around the body and Tobias informed Erek that he needed to get another Chee to pose as Tom to go down to the Yeerk Pool to "feed".  
  
We didn't want a Chee to pose as Jake because the Chee posing as him would only be a constant reminder that the real Jake was dead.  
  
Jake's death was just something that we didn't need to br reminded of...  
  
  
"Marco?" Jake's dad's voice interrupted my reverie.  
  
"Wha-yeah?"  
  
"Are you free on Sunday?"  
  
"Well, I-"  
  
"I know that you probably believe that Jake is still out there, but-"  
  
"No. Don't say that. Jake did a lot of things for me. If this is the last thing I can do for him, I'll do it."  
  
He smiled ruefully.  
  
"Thank you, Marco."  
  
And he left.  


***

  
  
Sunday rolled around too fast and when I arrived at the cemetery with my dad, Rachel, Cassie and the rest of Jake's family were already there. Even Tobias and Ax were there in human morph, hanging back.  
  
"Hey, Marco," Tom said.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"You know, I feel really weird...I just couldn't tell my folks that they couldn't have the funeral-"  
  
"Because you know the truth," I finished. "I know."  
  
Tom smiled sadly at me and we hugged.  
  
Rachel, Cassie, Tom and I stood together for the whole ceremony and as they lowered the empty casket, tears fell from my eyes.  
  
My mom always told me that you can choose how to look at life.  
  
You either cry about it or you laugh it off.  
  
Somehow, death is the only thing I can't laugh off.  
  
  
Copyright Gerri 2001  
  
Please review!! Those who reviewed "Missing", thank you once again and I hope you review this for me too! Thanks!! 


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